Brentford’s Griffin Park is a relic of the past and approaching its final death throes as a football stadium - because barely a mile away a brand spanking new arena is rising into the sky to replace it.

Take that as a metaphor for what is about to befall Stoke City, if you like, Nathan Jones certainly is.

The rest of us could certainly do with feeding off his welcome positivity because it feels like Stoke’s current decline has been the best part of three years in the making and that, quite evidently, is going to take some turning around.

Just how big a job awaits Jones was all too palpable at Griffin Park and our biggest consolation is that he saw everything from day one, warts and all, and so he can assume that all the bad things he’s heard are pretty much bang on the money.

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His re-building work will require a hard hat at all times, you suspect, and he can only hope that hat is not to protect him from falling brickbats from his own supporters.

They were remarkably supportive during his debut, despite all that was thrown at them once again, and even burst into a verse of Delilah as soon as the third goal went in by way of sticking two fingers up to yet another slap in the face.

They also applauded their new manager as one, or near as damn it, when he walked past the away end at the conclusion of a comprehensive defeat and raised his own hands above his head to thank them for their backing.

If he is to be the architect of a brighter future he will need plenty of time and some visionary skills when he takes to his drawing board.

It certainly seems like a case of back to the proverbial drawing board as Stoke’s season deteriorates by the game since Christmas.

This was another poor offering, but with the huge proviso this time that the players were trying, not too successfully, to implement a new gameplan thrown at them over just two training sessions.

So they, as well as their manager, deserve to be cut some slack on this occasion and, fingers crossed, it’s a system the current personnel, or at least most of them, will learn to implement.

It was Stoke’s misfortune that their debut with a diamond midfield format came against a Brentford side whose slick give-and-go football could all too easily exploit Stoke’s evident uncertainty and hesitancy.

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The visitors were also short of numbers, energy and aggression in central areas and Jones rightly acknowledged as much by changing Saido Berahino for Peter Etebo at half-time.

Jones won’t easily forget his torrid start to life as manager during the first 20 minutes, however, and nor will those of us watching because it could have been worse than 2-0 against a Brentford side which hadn’t scored more than one in any of its previous five fixtures.

Jones will need many qualities to see this job through and a sense of humour will be among them judging by the way his players contrived to concede their first during that fraught opening slap bang in front of Stoke’s travelling support.

A left-wing corner was headed goalwards for Benik Afobe to clear at the near post, but he smashed said clearance straight into a team-mate and saw the ball whistle past him with interest for 1-0.

It wasn’t immediately obvious which hapless team-mate it had struck, but the sight of Ryan Shawcross lying face down in the mud gave us a useful clue.

The captain has witnessed many a mishap over that aforementioned three years, but few as physically and emotionally painful as that one.

Brentford were driving at Stoke with alarming regularity and unremitting speed, it seemed, and before the 10th minute was up Jack Butland brilliantly turned Neil Maupay’s low shot round his left-hand post.

But it was 2-0 by the 17th minute when Brentford’s one-touch movement of the ball left Stoke chasing shadows as the ball was worked inside by Romain Sawyers for Said Benrahama to sweep across Butland’s low dive to his right.

Had it ever become 3-0 - well, let’s not even go there - but thank heavens it was Stoke who scored next, just six minutes later, and the manner of the goal fair took your breath away.

Benik Afobe, an unwilling symbol of Stoke’s recent collapse in form, would have gladly taken a goal off his backside, so imagine his glee when racing onto Tom Ince’s short pass to belt a 20-yard beauty into the goalkeeper’s top left-hand corner at a blistering rate of knots.

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His goal was not the prelude to any kind of comeback, however, and Stoke’s first-half susceptibility continued unabated as an Ashley Williams challenge prevented an almost certain third before his new manager could draw breath and alter things at half-time.

Etebo’s appearance and Ince’s shift from the centre to the right were chief among those half-time changes, but once again Brentford remained comfortably the better of the two teams.

So there was no disputing their claims on a third goal when Rico Henry entered the heat from deep and ran by an exposed Shawcross before lashing low past Butland for 3-1.

Stoke couldn’t have complained too loudly had the scoreline deteriorated further, given the balance of play, as Ollie Watkins centred for Maupay to clip the bar before Watkins lashed an effort of his own across Butland and against the same woodwork.

The two teams were playing the game at a different speed and it’s not over stretching it to say Stoke’s work for much of that second half was little more than damage limitation because they sure as heck never really threatened to score a second and make a game of it.

You could even argue Stoke were worse than in the latter days of Gary Rowett because they had less possession and so less control of the game.

However, this is the start of a transitional period which could look and feel like an ill-fitting suit for a while as Jones imposes his personality and strategy upon a team bearing the scars and upheaval of three managerial exits in the space of just 12 months.

A club priding itself on admirable stability for so many years is now enduring a period of considerable instability and all must hold tight for better times ahead.